Libraries, public, renaissance of: DDC 020.336

[Graham]

I cannot explain why/how that happened.
The "bump" function has always been something of a mystery to me and I suggest that it is completely superfluous.

I propose that it is speedily disabled *. The surrounding mysteries will thus be removed and (hopefully) whatever happened above will never happen again.

* i.e. - set "Bump Interval" to ZERO in the ACP

[Cyril Haearn]

I cannot explain why/how that happened.
The "bump" function has always been something of a mystery to me and I suggest that it is completely superfluous.

I propose that it is speedily disabled *. The surrounding mysteries will thus be removed and (hopefully) whatever happened above will never happen again.

* i.e. - set "Bump Interval" to ZERO in the ACP

I would be good if there were some consultation first
I have used it several times, there has been no complaint before. Others use it too. The only queer thing is that the date of the last post is changed

[reohn2]

The only thing queer on here is that there is a post dated 12 Sept at 10.14am that's posted as if I posted it when I know I haven't.

So a message to all forum members,be on your guard!

[Graham]

The BUMP function is now disabled.

If you want to revive a topic, you only need to post ( as a REPLY ), something new and exciting for the delight of the audience.

[fausto copy]

To be honest I never realised there was a bump function; I just assumed people were replying to a post and writing "bump" to refresh the topic. I think I've only ever noticed it when folks are trying to sell stuff.

Disabling is all very well, but there's been no explanation as to how and why reohn2 has been hacked.

[Cyril Haearn]

I have quite a lot of books at home but I could never read them all, especially as I want to read some more than once

I often think of compiling a top ten, but there would be a hundred or more

[bigjim]

I have quite a lot of books at home but I could never read them all, especially as I want to read some more than once

I often think of compiling a top ten, but there would be a hundred or more

I used to have shelves full of books. But as I have aged [70 today] I have started to whittle down my possessions and encouraged by my wife most of my books have gone. The local charity shops don't want them and they don't sell online, so I ended up putting them in the container for books at the tip. What they do with them I dread to think, but my home is less cluttered and I'm a regular at the library and I have my kindle for holiday reading.
Our local library shuts early on a Friday and is closed completely on Saturdays. Both times when the precinct is busy and people are more likely to visit. Then they wonder why the foot traffic has declined.

[fausto copy]

Every one of our local charity shops is willing to take books and I've currently got a box full of some, ready to be delivered on Monday.
Burning is sacrilegious....remember Fahrenheit 451!

[Cyril Haearn]

Every one of our local charity shops is willing to take books and I've currently got a box full of some, ready to be delivered on Monday.
Burning is sacrilegious....remember Fahrenheit 451!

Charity shops typically have few books more than 20 years old
Paperbacks especially deteriorate, the paper goes yellow, many would not sell now, think of the millions of James Herriot books*, yearbooks, telephone books
I bet a lot of books are quietly pulped and turned into.. books

* I love his books actually

[bigjim]

Every one of our local charity shops is willing to take books and I've currently got a box full of some, ready to be delivered on Monday.
Burning is sacrilegious....remember Fahrenheit 451!

I don't know if them burn them at the tip. They go in some defined box. They were technical hardb ack for the most part. Charity shop didn't want them.

[fausto copy]

Ah, technical books, yes...no-one seems to want them anymore.
Come the revolution when all this technomony (my word for it) fails, we'll all be wanting to read about how things work again.

[Mick F]

We'll have to learn to read first.

Due to the tech revolution, people don't write much these days. Personally, I can't remember writing a letter or any other document on paper for some years. Yes, I write in my diary and I write shopping lists, but actually using a pen and paper to write whole sentences and paragraphs, it must be years and years perhaps a decade. I'm aware that young people are doing as I do now, and even school work can be done via a keyboard. You can use predictive text too of course.

The rise of Siri and that Amazon thingy that speaks and reacts, it won't be long and we won't even need to type on a keyboard or read anything at all.

Take the argument to extreme and technology to move on far enough ...................... what is reading and writing actually for?
It's old tech and obsolescent?

[reohn2]

......Take the argument to extreme and technology to move on far enough ...................... what is reading and writing actually for?
It's old tech and obsolescent?

Reading and writing will always be there,it's just that the way it's done has mophed into a different way to do it.
Sometime ago Ilistened to an interesting discussion on R4 about how the human species is evolving at a faster rate due to technology,it was claimed each generation was speeding up in the way they communicate due to the computer and internet,this also comes out in faster speech.
A look at the smartphone(which I confess is much smarter than me),who would've believed it were even possible even 20 years ago?

The ability of good teachers to communicate their knowledge via the internet is a very powerful thing indeed,it's why the Chinese and other totalitarian governments around the world try to block it within their borders and imprison those that flout their laws.

BTW good libraries have banks of internet linked computers for people who have no internet access,as well as books,films and music DVD and CD's they also do childrens reading clubs and classes to help people formulate their CV and help people who's first language isn't English.
My S in L was a librarian who did such classes and helped people with basic computer skills until the cuts,when it was thought his services would be better handed over to unskilled volunteers......

[Mick F]

......Take the argument to extreme and technology to move on far enough ...................... what is reading and writing actually for?
It's old tech and obsolescent?

Reading and writing will always be there,it's just that the way it's done has mophed into a different way to do it.

Handwriting?
Somehow I think it's on its way out, very slowly but surely.
Reading isn't necessary if the technology talks to you, and if you can talk back, the technology will do the rest.

[bigjim]

All my grandkids are taught hand-writing at school. They have plenty of handwritten homework as well. My wife has just retired from high school. All the kids hand-write. The only keyboard time is when they are taught IT.
I enjoy handwriting and keep a journal where I record stuff and also jot down my wandering thoughts and opinions. All done with a fountain pen. Probably nobody will ever read it and it will end up in a skip, but it's just for me really.